The White Drawing Room in Buckingham Palace is one of its most splendid rooms, and plays host to visiting heads of state and family gatherings.

Its centrepiece is a French marble fireplace in front of which the Queen and her guests are frequently photographed.

An identical fireplace sits in the living room of Lock Cottage, a former lock-keeper’s cottage in the Warwickshire hamlet of Preston Bagot.

Barrel Cottage in Preston Bagot, Warwickshire, has a roof made out of a bridge. The cottage, home to Tony Guy and his wife Joyce, is now on the market for £640k

Unlike the palace, this house was put up on the cheap just over 200 years ago, as the company that constructed the canal that links Stratford-upon-Avon with the Grand Union Canal, Birmingham and the River Avon ran out of cash to build houses at which lock tolls could be charged.

‘By 1808 they had no money, but needed to build six lock-keeper’s cottages,’ says Tony Guy, 77, who lives in the property.

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He explains that the company had the materials to build bridges, but not cottages, so arched bridges were put up next to the locks, and ends put on them, creating enclosed living spaces.

Lock Cottage is now seven times its original size; when it was first built, space in the tiny ‘barrel house’ was compromised further by the inclusion of a waiting room for boatmen to use before the lock opened at 6am.

Despite this, the first lock-keeper and his wife brought up seven children there. The cottage and five others on this stretch of the South Avon Canal are the only ones in the country built in this way. Each still has its distinctive barrel roof.

The cottage, built over 200 years ago, is now seven times its original size. When it was first built, space in the tiny 'barrel house' was compromised further by the inclusion of a waiting room for boatmen to use before the lock opened at 6am. The fireplace (pictured) is valued at £70,000

In 1989, Lock Cottage was refurbished, insulated, lined and extended to the size it is today. It was at this point that the impressive fireplace, which is valued at about £70,000, was installed in the living room, after being bought at Sotheby’.

The property now comprises three bedrooms, including a master suite with a large dressing room and en-suite bathroom, a family bathroom, kitchen/breakfast room, the living room, a separate dining room, stunning roof terrace and large gardens.

Paul Tarn, a senior associate at Fine & Country, which is selling the house for £640,000, says: ‘We’ve had a lot of interest from people looking for a bolthole, including people from London who have a barge – a mooring is available on the opposite bank. It’s very much a lifestyle house.’

Mr Tarn says the market for properties up to £1 million in this part of Warwickshire is buoyant, although houses priced at up to £3 million are struggling to sell.

Throughout the property, the barrel shape of the roof is mirrored in door-frames, window frames – and even in the shed, the patio and the greenhouse, which all boast curved roofs.

The barrel theme even continues in the corner of the living room where there is a bar.

Paul Tarn, a senior associate at Fine & Country, which is selling the house says: 'We've had a lot of interest from people looking for a bolthole, including people from London who have a barge, a mooring is available on the opposite bank. It's very much a lifestyle house'

As the house sits right on the
towpath, which is still in use, the owners, Tony and his wife Joyce,
have installed double-glazed, reflective one-way windows, which allow
plenty of light in and give the couple the chance to watch the local
wildlife, but do not allow passers-by to look at them.

‘The
birds see their reflection in the window panes and think it’s another
bird,’ says Tony. ‘And we once had a girl using the window to check her
make-up.’

On the other side of Lock Cottage is farmland where sheep and roe deer graze.

The tall chimneys are another feature, making the cottage visible for miles around – and the large roof terrace, with access via a wrought-iron spiral staircase, gives spectacular views of surrounding countryside.

Tony is a specialist in vehicle technology who worked on Lewis Hamilton’s car in 2008 when he won the Formula 1 world title. He is now helping Cardiff University to develop a battery that will allow electric vans to travel 100 miles on a just 20-minute charge.

But he and Joyce also have a huge passion for theatre and they plan to move to the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, as the theatres there play a large part in their lives.

‘For 53 years without a break I’ve put on a Scout Gang Show,’ says Tony, who is the ambassador for the movement in Warwickshire. ‘In 1982 I chartered a jumbo jet and took 400 Scouts to Dallas and Fort Worth.’

The trip was featured on television, not least because while they were there the airline went bust, leaving them no way to get home. In the best Scouting tradition, however, they rescued the situation with the help of a businessman who spent around £10,000 on tickets.